Medicinal Value of Vegetables

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Sheryl

15-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Tuesday, March 7, 1911: Oh pshaw, it’s a hard task to write something, when you have nothing to write. We had onions for supper, and I can taste them yet. I am not very anxious for the morrow, for with it some questions to be answered, but they might be easier than what I think they really are.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

In Grandma’s day onions were considered to be good for the nerves—though they don’t seem to have done much to calm Grandma’s anxiety. The October 1910 issue of National Foods Magazine listed 12 vegetables with medicinal value. (The list suggests that nervousness and constipation were frequent problems a hundred years ago.)

Medicinal Value of Vegetables

Watercress is an excellent blood purifier.

Lettuce has a soothing effect on the nerves and is excellent for sufferers of insomnia.

Tomatoes are good for a torpid liver, but should be avoided by gouty people.

Onions are a tonic for the nerves.

Spinach has great aperient qualities and is far better than medicine for constipation.

Beet root is fattening and is good for people who want to put on flesh. So are potatoes.

Parsnips possess the same virtues as sarsaparilla.

Apples, carrots, and Brazil nuts are excellent for sufferers from constipation.

Celery contains sulphur and helps to ward off rheumatism. It is also a nerve tonic.

Dates are exceedingly nourishing and also prevent constipation.

The juice of grapes is laxative but the skin and seeds are likely to cause constipation.

Bananas are beneficial to sufferers from chest complaints.

National Foods Magazine (October, 1910)

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Cut and Wound Care, Circa 1911

Posted on February 19, 2011 by Sheryl

15-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today: 

Sunday, February 19, 1911: I went to Sunday school this morning and staid for church. While washing the dishes at noon (that is one of my daily duties) I cut a gash in my finger. It is so excruciatingly sore. It seems as if I am always getting some burns, cuts, or bruises.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later: 

In Grandma’s day many homes had a copy of the Compendium of Every Day Wants: General Information and a Thousand and One Facts (1908). For cuts and wounds the Compendium recommended:

CUTS AND WOUNDS.—There are two kinds of cuts or wounds—incised, which means cut into, or lacerated, which means torn.

The first kind are usually not so dangerous and are treated in proportion to their size and depth. These generally heal of themselves. Clots formed on a cut should not be washed away. If there is not much bleeding, wipe away any impurities and bandage. A small piece of adhesive plaster is all that is necessary for household cuts.

Lacerated wounds have ragged edges, and the soft parts about them often will be found bruised and torn. These are most frequently caused by railway accidents, machinery and falling timbers. Treatment.—Cleanse the wound with warm water, wet a cloth over it and bandage lightly.

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Old-time Headache Remedies

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Sheryl

15-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today: 

Thursday, February 16, 1911:  I blackened my shoes this morning. I don’t know what was the matter with the polish, but it did have a most peculiar smell. Some of the girls at school declared, “they smelt medicines.” I have a most awful headache tonight. My head just feels as if it would like to jump into space.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later: 

Whew, that must have been some shoe polish. It’s hard to imagine how it could have had such a strong odor. Could the noxious fumes have caused Grandma’s headache?

I wonder if Grandma tried any of the headache treatments recommended in the Compendium of Every Day Wants: General Information and a Thousand and One Facts (1908):

  • There are remedies for headaches by the dozen, but probably none simpler or more effective than the following: After nearly filling a breakfast cup with black coffee, squeeze into it the juice of one lemon and in a very short time after this has been taken relief will be experienced.
  • Drink some hot herb tea, and at the same time soak the feet in hot water for about twenty-five minutes. Get into bed then and cover up warm, sweating for an hour or more. Relief will soon follow.
  • Take a cup of tea in the evening with a small slice of bread and try to get to sleep.
  • Here is a simple remedy which has been tried many times and proved a cure in cases of sick headache. Powder finely two teaspoonfuls of charcoal, drink it in half a tumblerful of water. I have learned of this great remedy, though simple, from many persons who have used it in cases of sick headache.
  • Take ¾ of a quart of water, 1 tablespoon of salt and one ounce each of heartshorn and spirits of camphor. Mix well, wet a rag in it and apply to the forehead.
  • Crumble a piece of dry bread into a cup, put in a little butter, pepper and salt to suit the taste, pour boiling water over it and drink it.

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No Smallpox–Just Reading, Moping, and Doing Nothing

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Sheryl

15-year-old Helena wrote a hundred years ago today:

Saturday, January 21, 1911. Spent most of the day in reading and moping around doing nothing. Mother is reading tonight, while I make my entry, but she doesn’t know what I’m writing, for she has her back turned.

Local Front Page News Exactly 100 Years Ago Today:

More Smallpox: Three More Cases Have Broken Out In Montour County

Two at Mausdale and One at Washingtonville: All Are Traced to Lumber Camp

Milton Evening Standard, January 21, 1911 

 Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

When I dug into the old 1911 Milton Evening Standard  microfilms at the Milton Public Library, I was shocked to discover that smallpox still occurred in central Pennsylvania a  hundred years ago. This means that there was smallpox less than fifty years before my birth. I had thought that the smallpox vaccine had wiped the disease out much earlier.  But, even though the victims lived only 15-20 miles from Grandma’s home, it  apparently was a world away from Grandma’s concerns when she wrote this diary entry. (Sometimes the slower pace of 1911 sounds wonderful, but there have been some very positive changes in the last 100 years!!)

Grandma probably wrote this entry sitting in a house illuminated with at least two gas lanterns—since it appears that she and her mother weren’t sitting close together. Maybe Grandma was huddled over the table in the kitchen but could see her mother sitting in the living room through a doorway.  Why did she mention that she won’t want her mother to know what she is writing? There’s nothing very earth-shaking here—except maybe yesterday’s spelling fiasco.

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